The mask is unique because it is three-ply with properties that will repel and kill the SARS CoV- 2 virus.
The reusable mask is now available at the State Trading Corporation and Sathosa outlets. Around 800,000 masks have been released to the market as an initial step.
‘This type of three-ply mask is currently not available anywhere in the world’, Professor Gamini Rajapakse heads the team of researchers that invented and designed the Respirone. Told the Counterpoint during an interview.
‘We have been working hard ever since the Covid-19 pandemic started in Sri Lanka because we wanted to use our knowledge to contribute to its control’.
The Respirone has advantages over most other masks. The mask’s filtration level of aerosol particles containing the virus is nearly 100 per cent. The Respirone is made of cotton and is bio-degradable which makes it environmentally friendly. Most other masks are made out of polypropylene which is damaging to the environment.
The mask’s upper layer is made of cotton and modified Nano-technologically to make it water repellent.
Professor Rajapakse who is the senior professor in Chemistry and Nanotechnology at the University draws a parallel with the superhydrophobic nature of the lotus leaf off which water rebounds.
‘If any aerosol particle containing the virus reaches the upper layer of the mask the particle is repelled’. It also keeps the mask dry and clean.
The middle layer of the mask is also made of cotton. The pores are blocked using microparticles which are the same size as the fabric’s pores to ensure no particles such as the SARS CoV-2 penetrates. But it allows molecules in the air to flow in for breathability.
‘The particles which have been used have a positively charged surface so that they attract the negatively charged SARS CoV-2 viral envelope and bind electrostatically on their surface’.
The surface of the middle layer also contains star-shaped nanoparticles with sharp Nano blades which are capable of cutting the virus’s spike proteins.
